Aurora Film Circuit I do apologize that I do not have any Canadian Films listed but also wanted to provide a list of films selected by the National Film Board that portray the multi-layered lives of Canada’s diverse Black communities. Explore the NFB’s collection of films by distinguished Black filmmakers, creators, and allies. (Link below) Black Communities in Canada: A Rich History - NFB Film Info – data gathered from TIFF or IMBd AFC Input – Personal review of the film (Nelia Pacheco Chair/Programmer, AFC) Synopsis – this info was gathered from different sources such as; TIFF, IMBd, Film Reviews etc. FILM TITEL and INFO AFC Input SYNOPSIS FILM SUGGESTIONS TO CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH SMALL AXE I am very biased towards the Director Small Axe is based on the real-life experiences of London's West Director: Steve McQueen Steve McQueen, his films are very Indian community and is set between 1969 and 1982 UK, 2020 personal and gorgeous to watch. I 1st – MANGROVE 2hr 7min: English cannot recommend this series Mangrove tells this true story of The Mangrove Nine, who 5 Part Series: ENOUGH, it was fantastic and the clashed with London police in 1970. The trial that followed was stories are a must see. After listening to the first judicial acknowledgment of behaviour motivated by Principal Cast: Gary Beadle, John Boyega, interviews/discussions with Steve racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police Sheyi Cole Kenyah Sandy, Amarah-Jae St. McQueen about this project you see his 2nd – LOVERS ROCK 1hr 10 min: Aubyn and many more.., A single evening at a house party in 1980s West London sets the passion and what this production meant to him, it is a series of “love letters” to his scene, developing intertwined relationships against a Category: TV Mini background of violence, romance and music. Series/Biography/Drama/Feature Film heritage and to the West Indian Communities who immigrated to the UK 3rd – RED, WHITE and BLUE 1hr 20min: Spotlights the true story of Leroy Logan, who at a young age Available: AMAZON PRIME during this time period. saw his father assaulted by two policemen, motivating him to – Based on true events, this 5 part series join the Metropolitan Police and change their racist attitudes Small Axe - Season 1 - IMDb is in their own right a feature film, but from within. the positive is you do not have to 4th - ALEX WHEATLE 1hr 6min: FILM TITEL and INFO AFC Input SYNOPSIS watch all 5 consecutively they are not Alex Wheatle follows the true story of award-winning writer, linked to each other. Five completely Alex Wheatle (Sheyi Cole), from a young boy through his early different films and stories. adult years. Having spent his childhood in a mostly white institutional care home with no love or family, he finally finds not only a sense of community for the first time in Brixton, but his identity and ability to grow his passion for music and DJing. When he is thrown in prison during the Brixton Uprising of 1981, he confronts his past and sees a path to healing. 5th –EDUCATION 1hr: Education is the coming of age story of 12-year-old Kingsley (Kenyah Sandy), who has a fascination for astronauts and rockets. When Kingsley is pulled to the headmaster's office for being disruptive in class, he discovers he's being sent to a school for those with "special needs." Distracted by working two jobs, his parents (Sharlene Whyte, Daniel Francis) are unaware of the unofficial segregation policy at play, preventing many Black children from receiving the education they deserve, until a group of West Indian women take matters into their own hands. MALCOLM X This is really an incredible piece of work! Biographical epic of Malcolm X, the legendary African American Director: Spike Lee In addition the back story on how Spike leader. Born Malcolm Little, his father (a Garveyite Baptist USA, 1992 Lee fought to have a Black Director, and minister) was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. Malcolm became a English how he managed to get the additional gangster, and while in jail discovered the Nation of Islam 3H 22 minutes financing (as the budget was way off writings of Elijah Muhammad. He preaches the teachings when track) to complete it is admiral in itself. let out of jail, but later on goes on a pilgrimage to the city of Principal Cast: Denzel Mecca, there he converts to the original Islamic religion and Washington, Angela Bassett, Delroy Great film to provide education and becomes a Sunni Muslim and changes his name to El-Hajj Malik Lindo awareness of the Civil Rights Movement. Al-Shabazz. He is assassinated on February 21, 1965 and dies a Muslim martyr. Category: Biography/Drama/Feature Film Available: CRAVE/HBO CANADA Malcolm X (1992) - IMDb FILM TITEL and INFO AFC Input SYNOPSIS WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE? Nina Simone is one of my favourite artists On stage Nina Simone was known for expression, which Director: Lisa Garbus and what I love about her and her music enthralled audiences and attracted life-long fans. But amid the USA, 2013 is that she demands your attention to her violent, haunting, and senseless day-to-day of the civil rights era English craft and her music. You just can’t have in 1960s America, Simone struggled to reconcile her artistic 1H 42 minutes her playing is the background – as identity and ambition with her devotion to a movement. Culled mentioned above her power demands from hours of autobiographical tapes, this new film unveils the Stars: Nina Simone, Lisa Simone your complete attention. unmitigated ego of a brilliant artist and the absurdities of her Kelly, Roger Nupie time. At the height of her fame Simone walked away from her Her story is heart breaking, and again the family, country, career and fans, to move to Liberia and give up Category: courage that it took for her to fight and performing. The story of her life leading up to that event poses Documentary/Biography/Music speak her truth while also dealing with the question, 'how does royalty stomp around in the mud and the consequences (black listed for her still walk with grace her utterly free, uninhibited musical Available: NETFLIX support of the Black Panthers) during the Civil Rights Movement is honourable What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015) - IMDb CLEMENCY I screened this film at TIFF back in the Fall Under the skilled guidance of writer-director Chinonye Chukwu, Director: Chinonye Chukwu of 2019 – the acting is fantastic but the Alfre Woodard (Mississippi Grind, 12 Years a Slave) provides a USA, 2019 subject matter is heavy and the pace of layered, nuanced portrait of a beleaguered prison warden — a English the film was slow at many points. performance that was a key part of why the film won a Grand 113 minutes Jury Prize at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Warden Principal Cast: Alfre Woodard, Richard That said, I certainly feel the subject Bernadine Williams (Woodard) is a professional. She arrives at Schiff, matter is relevant and worth the time to work every day to watch over death-row prisoners until they Aldis Hodge, Wendell Pierce, Richard view. face execution or receive a rare, last-minute clemency. She Gunn, takes her job seriously, doing her best to offer dignity to the Danielle Brooks men left isolated in her prison to contemplate what they did — or didn’t do. Even when a lethal injection procedure goes wrong Category: Feature Film and throws the inmate’s family into grief-stricken chaos, Bernadinenever loses her cool. But when she goes home at Available: CRAVE /HBO Canada night, she feels it. Her husband Jonathan, played by Wendell Pierce (television’s The Wire, Treme), is a School teacher still Clemency (2019) - IMDb deeply in love with a wife who is growing harder and more distant. Anthony Woods (Aldis Hodge) is the next prisoner in line, and a complex man to reach. As his lawyer (Richard Schiff ) FILM TITEL and INFO AFC Input SYNOPSIS fights to prove Woods’ innocence before time runs out, Bernadine struggles to maintain the neutral calm that defines her job but threatens to destroy her marriage. LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN I have not screened this film as yet but Director Joe Talbot’s debut feature is an ode to the city of San FRANCISCO the reviews are very positive. Francisco, rooted in the real-life experiences of his childhood Director: Joe Talbot best friend, Jimmie Fails. Though Fails is a non-actor, no one USA, 2019 else could give a more genuine and heart-felt performance than English he could — so Talbot cast him in the lead role. The Last Black 120 minutes Man in San Francisco tells a story of the city through the eyes of Principal Cast: Jimmie Fails, Jonathan a fictionalized version of Jimmie, who is obsessed by the idea of Majors, Rob Morgan, Tichina Arnold, reclaiming the Victorian house in Fillmore that his grandfather Danny Glover built. This house is where he grew up, and was the last real home he had before his family broke apart. Jimmie spends most Category: Feature Film of his time hanging out with his best friend, aspiring playwright Montgomery (Jonathan Majors, Out of Blue, White Boy Rick), Available: CRAVE /HBO Canada haunting the neighbour-hoods they knew as children and watching old black-and-white movies at the small house they The Last Black Man in San Francisco share with Montgomery’s nearly-blind grandfather (Danny (2019) - IMDb Glover, The Old Man and the Gun, The Color Purple).Jimmie also visits and fixes up the house his grandfather built to keep it from falling into disrepair, much to the annoyance of its current owners.